Abu Azmi Backs Akhilesh Yadav, Blames Amar Singh For Crisis In SP

"I would request Mulayam Singh to stop the party from breaking into pieces."

MUMBAI -- Samajwadi Party's Maharashtra unit chief Abu Azmi on Tuesday lashed out at senior party leader Amar Singh, while blaming him for the major turmoil in the Yadav clan and requested party supremo Mulayam Singh to take measure before the party breaks into pieces.

Siding with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Azmi told ANI that that the party can bounce back to power only under his leadership.

"I would request Mulayam Singh to stop the party from breaking into pieces. And I would also like to tell Netaji that your son Akhilesh Yadav is very good and is very much worthy. He should not listen to others. I would like to request Netaji that do a voting as to how many people are in favour of Amar Singh as Netaji had himself said in the party meeting yesterday that listen to people who speak truth and stay away from sycophants," he said.

The Maharashtra unit chief also said that Mulayam Singh should lead a voting as to how many people are in support of Amar Singh.

"Netaji is a great leader and under his leadership this party was formed and without Netaji, Samajwadi party is nothing. But Netaji is such a giving person that he kept quiet even when the person who have decided to break the party, who tweeted that in November Akhilesh Yadav will no longer be the Chief Minister, he did nothing. This conspiracy is taking place for a long time now but Netaji is not able to understand this," he added.

Earlier, taking the internal SP war to yet another level, expelled party leader Ramgopal Yadav reiterated his loyalty to Akhilesh Yadav and dared party state chief Shivpal Yadav and party leader Amar Singh to list out their charges and allegations against him in a 'public meeting' and walk away unscathed.

Asserting that his sole goal right now is to ensure that Akhilesh becomes chief minister again, he further said that he will do everything to ensure that it happens.

He also made it clear that he will make any requests to be reinstated back in the party.

"I will consider coming back if I am asked to respectfully and also that all the other expelled members are called back."

Earlier, briefing the media about the decision of Mulayam to expel Ramgopal, Shivpal alleged, "Ramgopal Yadav was working at the behest of the BJP to save his son and daughter-in-law from the CBI as both are involved in the Noida scam in the Yadav Singh case''.

The Noida scam is being investigated by the CBI and Noida chief engineer Yadav Singh and several other are in prison.

"Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is innocent and unable to differentiate between the friend and the foe. Ramgopal is an expert of manipulations and is out to destroy the party and weaken the Chief Minister and the party chief for his narrow political ends," alleged Shivpal, adding, "Ramgopal always humiliated the leaders and the cadre of the party and never came to their rescue during their hard times''.

Shivpal also alleged that when thousands of the party workers were in jail during the previous BSP regime, Ramgopal never bothered to visit them.

"Ramgopal even insulted the senior leaders like Janeshwar Mishra, Mohan Singh and Brij Bhushan Tewari. Now, he has crossed the limit as we are struggling hard for the return of the party to power while Ramgopal is vitiating the atmosphere and spreading confusion," charged Shivpal.

Ramgopal had triggered off the events by dropping a letter bomb early on Sunday morning in which he said that those who were opposing Akhilesh should not be allowed to succeed and it must be ensured that such people do not reach the Vidhan Sabha again.

Ramgopal, who has sided with his nephew Akhilesh in the power struggle in the family, said in the letter that "future of the party lay with Akhilesh".

While no one had been specifically targeted, the letter spoke of people who had a negative mindset, "minted crores of rupees and misused power".

"We want the SP to form the next Government under the leadership of Akhilesh, our mindset is positive while theirs is negative. The people on the other side are those who have minted thousands of crores of rupees by abusing power and indulged in debauchery," he added in a veiled attack on Shivpal.